North Korea has released a new pic of chairman Kim Jong Il, hoping to show the world that the communist despot/self-professed internet expert is alive and well and healthy enough to actually appear in public. But this may be a case of communist photoshopaganda.
Three months after Kim Jong Il disappeared from public view amid …

The most important question is...

ya think ??

learning fron New Labour

I see he has been learning from New Labour how to get yourself included in photos you might have missed the taking of! Still at least New Labour look to copy North Korea in all their other policies, maybe Gordon hopes to be known as Dear Leader as well.

Squat leader?

Actually (unless I'm missing the element of the photo that is supposed to look photoshopped) it looks to me more like all the soldiers in the front row are standing with knees slightly bent to make him look taller.

Will he get a gravestone like Spike Milligan?

bend it like...

You haven't seen the rast of Kim Jong Il! So rong, earthrings!

The missing line thing is an odd one, especially considering the shadow of the soldier on Kim's left forms part of that clearly dodgy whole section. Difficult to tell from the top photo, but the shadof of Kim's head /seems/ to fall in the right place, and is the shadow of a shortarse.

Perhaps whichever apparatchik was given responsibility for the Photoshopping actually did it deliberately as a subtle subversion of his masters' subterfuge? Otherwise it's a bit of a schoolboy error.

Re: learning fron New Labour

OK so the shadows are wrong

But surely the most obvious, and missed by everyone I have seen comment on this, feature, is the missing line (fold? stitching?) which is obvious behind the soldiers each side of him, but strangely missing from the section of white cloth behind his legs!

When I first saw this story I could see the misaligned shadow but could easily explain that away by thinking that the drop sheet "could" be bulging out just where he was stood.

The missing fold or stitching though, well it's a bit of a giveaway isn't it?

In a way I feel guilty for pointing this out, as I suspect some poor innocent photoshopper will be severely punished for his/her mistake, but I am sure I am not the first, and I am certain I will not be the last, to notice.

Crikey.

Nice dresser!

Is it just me, or is the (partial) picture of Mr. Kim the only one that has nicely pressed pants? The two guys next to him must have the wrong pant size (probably because they only have one in Korea), with all the wrinkles!

The soldiers are hunking down!

And yes, that's a classic 'trick' to make a leader stand out(or up as it were) a bit more.

Of course, in situations where they have full control(as they should have here), they would normally give the leader something to stand on, then crop the picture...

As for the difference on the edge of the step, that can be attributed to the steps not being the same shape all over. (The steps are too high to comfortably walk, so one section of the stands have a different set of steps. sometimes, this section is in the middle, and sometimes there are two sections, one at either end. depends on the size of the stands.)

Of course, there's nothing in the picture to date it, so it could have been taken last year for all we know.

I always wonder with North Korean Photoshopping

Personal Guards vs Army Regulards

Looking at not only what they are wearing but where and how they are standing, i'd say at least 2 in not all 4 soldiers around him are all personal guards, the rest, in differing uniforms, are all cannon fodder.

There seem to be different "official" images...

A Korean source has a subtly different version of the same image:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200811/200811060007.html

The shadow is slanted in this picture, but is obviously a straight line rather than the more complex ones of the soldiers standing next to him. The line on the white step is missing in this picture as well.

not entirely convinced

I'm not entirely convinced this is faked. Not because I don't think they would, personally I think he's probably in a coma and everything they say about him is a lie, but I'm just not sure this picture is faked. First, the platform they're standing on is obviously angled and comes to somewhat of a point at the middle where he's standing - that explains the groove that isn't seen behind him (also, the groove isn't in the shadow of the guy to his left- if photoshopped it would be much easier to add the groove behind Kim than to remove it from the rest of the picture). Second, to me it seems he's standing just a little further forward than the guys next to him, that, along with the peak of the platform and the straightness of his legs, could account for the differing shadow. Third - the rest of him looks perfect - the lighting and shadow on his coat/body, the color and tone of his clothes and skin. If you're going to photoshop someone into a picture that perfectly, you're not going to screw up that bad on something as easy as a shadow. Fourth, as others have mentioned, it would be MUCH easier for the North Koreans to either use a look-a-like for a picture from that great a distance, or just pull out an old picture that no one's seen before. You know they must have LOADS of those on hand just for situations like this. I think everything that they say is a lie, but I don't think this picture was faked - just not taken recently or taken with a stand-in.

erm...

Is the main worry not the different shadows, lack of seam etc, but that he looks like he's posing for a family snap than a military picture.

Also, that one from the korean site is more than subtley different - he's standing on hay, not concrete ,and the guys next to him have nicely pressed trousers not the baggy pantaloons that seem to be en vogue with the korean soldiers these days.

Did you see

That phot is faked too!

@Andrew Alcock:

"A Korean source has a subtly different version of the same image:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200811/200811060007.html"

Thanks for posting the link. This image is also photoshopped. Notice that the sunny areas on both sides of Kim are not as bright as the others. Me suspects that Kim Jong-il is probably dead or in a coma.

Looks as fake as a $3 bill

The quality of the light is quite different on the wall and "shadows" behind him, specially in the image in the Korean newspaper sent above.

And no, it does not seem like it could be a staircase behind KJI. The soldiers behind him, how? If all the steps are the same height as the the platform shelves, then why have a staircase? And finally, what's the chance the line would stop exactly behind each soldier?

deliberately bad photoshop?

As in "aaaagh, please help me... I was forced to do this photoshopaganda and I'm doing a bad job deliberately to let you all know..."? If so, the shopper has my sympathies and I hope nothing untoward happens them.

Weirder and weirder..

I notice the creases in his trousers, shoe colour, shoe angle, anorak folds etc. are about the same as the Times article.- (North Koreans obviously can't afford new clothes, not even for a Beloved Leader)

But, the blokes next to him have neatened their uniforms. Suddenly. And changed their shadows for the photo. Plus, swapped medals/ribbons between themselves. (Kim doesn't have any. Loser.)

Odd, that...............

Aside:

We've a town near where I live in Finland called "II". Yep, honest (pronounced in English as "eee", without the PC or the lady on the beach). Reckon that's where the Beloved Leader's retirement home must be, Korean being reckoned to be the hardest lingo in the world, Finnish second - he'll find (after?)life here a doddle.

Guy on the right of the piccie..

It could be real photo

It could be a real photo. As pointed out before, he was standing slightly forward then the rest. I also noticed the "wall" behind him is not the same. However if you look closely, you should notice it is not a wall, but a steel case or step. It is possible that the center of platform is not as the same height. More likely slightly lower to have a stairway to the top. When taking the photo, they added some steel case/step to make them same height as the rest of platform, so the poor guy in the upper level all seem to be on level.